Forgive my proclivity to complete a post half way, post it and leave, and complete it later.
Two rounds have been completed. TheRejoicingChessCrusaders lead the Lasker section with 1.5 match points. TheRejoicingKnights have 1 match point.
Below, a victory by LordTyraad, his first game as a RejoicingChessCrusader.
TheRejoicingKnights did not fair well in the match against AllGoodPeople_D, basically, we were slaughtered.
A sad example is found in my game: http://www.teamleague.org/player.php?tourney=19&pgn=10958
Before round 2, I evaluated our opponents and asked myself, can the player I include in the line-up on this board win? Can the team gain a minimum of 2.5 points? I was pretty confident the TheRejoicingChessCrusaders would ace round 2, but I knew TheRejoicingKnights would be hard pressed.
The Crusaders did ace round 2, with 3 points (1 by opponent's forfeit) and only 1 casualty. For your pleasure, the victories: (timisrejoicing) http://www.teamleague.org/player.php?tourney=19&pgn=11092 ; (Krimi) http://www.teamleague.org/player.php?tourney=19&pgn=11090 .
As I said, I was pretty confident that TheRejoicingKnights would have an uphill battle, so I was pretty excited--literally jumping up and down--to hear of CharityJoy's 200 point upset of her opponent: http://www.teamleague.org/player.php?tourney=19&pgn=11081. The same morning, we faced our first (and only) casualty of the round. Allegroknight fought a very tough battle against an opponent rated nearly 200 points higher than he, and only lost narrowly in the endgame. I, with about an hundred point rating lead, faced my opponent next. After a satisfying opening for me, my opponent gained a wonderful midgame attack, so I was very relieved by the results:
Keep up the good work, team. It won't be easy, but we can do it. Always be on the qui vive, because our opponents will undoubtedly try to catch us off gaurd with their machinations.
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May God bless us all with His abiding joy and peace in spite of every circumstance and in everything we do.